Much like Joel (Pedro Pascal), The Last of Us fans learned a hard lesson in episode 2. This story of violence, revenge, and infection isn’t playing nice. However you thought The Last of Us would play out in season 2, that plan will no longer include Joel. Pedro Pascal’s burly survivor is really gone. I know. It’s crazy.
Many viewers are in a state of shock this morning. How could The Last of Us kill its main character? I imagine that’s why you’re here. So if the body bag at the end of The Last of Us’s shocking second episode wasn’t a dead giveaway, let’s retrace our steps back to the beginning of the episode to confirm how Joel met his end.
For starters, a new character named Abby (played by Kaitlyn Dever) directly stated her mission to kill Joel in the HBO drama’s season 2 premiere. Abby later reveals to Joel that she is the daughter of the doctor Joel murdered in the season 1 finale. Now she and her band of military youths are on a mission for revenge.
There’s seemingly some humanity among Abby’s band—as they refuse to hurt anyone besides Joel—but I’m certain very few audience members are on their side after Abby beat Joel to death in episode 2. A chance encounter during a battle with the infected brings the pair together, and there’s simply nothing Joel can do to defend himself.
To dig the knife even deeper, Ellie (Bella Ramsey) tells Jesse (Young Mazino) in the beginning of the episode that we should stop worrying about her relationship with Joel. “I’m still me, and he’s still Joel,” she says. “And nothing’s ever gonna change that, ever.” Forty minutes later, Ellie screams that she will kill Abby as the new villain drives a broken golf club through Joel’s neck. She lies on the floor with him until Jesse arrives. Then Ellie and Jesse silently ride their horses back to Jackson with Joel in a body bag.
The decision to kill Joel was just as controversial in the 2020 video game. However, creator Neil Druckmann stands by his story. “I think some viewers will start seeing some parallels between Abby and Ellie,” Druckmann explained in HBO’s “After the Episode” feature. “Abby has lost her dad, and now, inadvertently, Abby has created those same nightmares for another character. This event will change all the characters we know forever, from this point on. Now this person that’s capable of such violence—this impulsive character—what’s going to happen to them next?”
Joel May Return
There’s still a chance that Pedro Pascal returns to The Last of Us. Obviously he can’t feature in any more of the story moving forward. Pascal doesn’t have a soap-opera-esque turn as Joel’s twin brother either. (Sadly.) But if I learned anything from Paradise or House of the Dragon’s ghostly cameos, there are always flashbacks!
“This is where the story starts in earnest,” Druckmann revealed during his appearance on the official The Last of Us season 2 podcast. “But I will say that we do know there are some mysteries here, some gaps, in Ellie and Joel’s relationships. And I think this is a spoiler because we put a trailer out there with lots of shots in it. This is not the last that we will see of Joel.”
See, readers? Wipe that hurt away! There’s more Joel on the horizon.
